As he looks ahead to a tough summer of European football, Italy’s coach is adamant that his side have to avoid a repeat of last year’s embarrassing defeat by Portugal.

“We have to take care of business and have a good team and that is the priority,” Gianfranco Zola told Sky Sport Italia.

“If we want to go on to the World Cup, we have to have a very strong squad.

We have to make a decision about what we will do, not just in terms of players, but also in terms in terms with the manager.”

Zola’s side face a tough test in the Group D of the tournament, which starts on May 3 and runs until May 13.

Despite a successful campaign in the first half of the campaign, Italy finished just outside the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Russia, which saw them defeat England 2-0 in the group stages.

However, Zola insists the team have the right qualities to succeed.

“We have some very good players who are capable of winning trophies,” he said.

“But we also have to be prepared to face some difficult challenges in order to get the result we want.”

Zolas believes Italy will face a challenge of their own in the World, as they are looking to build on a solid campaign.

“I think it’s true that we are not at the level we were at in 2014,” he added.

“In fact, we lost a couple of games in the second half of last season, which is an area we need to improve.”